NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) argued that the defeat of President Barack Obama’s pick to lead a key division of the Justice Department was not about racism but rather because Debo Adegbile participated in an “anti-American campaign” to defend Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal.
“This was always about the principle that no one should be able to make a mockery of our criminal justice system, fan the flames of racial strife in America, join a dishonest, international anti-American campaign, along the way drag the family of a fallen police officer with three decades of health and then be burned by most of the Justice Department,” Toomey said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.
Toomey’s comments on Adegbile on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, came a day after a number of Democrats joined every Republican senator to block his nomination to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
Adegbile’s defeat sparked loud grumbling from some lawmakers. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said that obstruction of Adegbile showed a double standard.
“Here is the message we sent today: if you’re a young white person and you go to work for a law firm, you’re a lawyer sworn into the bar … and a law firm assigns you to defend a person who killed eight people in cold blood … you might wind up to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,” Harkin said after the vote according to The Hill.
